"You’re saying, a dog? A real dog?"
Had the older officer not seen that paw himself, he would have definitely thought the Mounted Police was on drugs.
The Mounted Police vigorously nodded, "Yes, Shi San, it’s Autopsy Officer Brian’s dog, it’s real, and it’s huge. It can even drive and talk with its belly. There’s a particularly large crow in the passenger seat, no wonder their car uses tinted glass. I always thought those colleagues of mine were pulling my leg, but it’s all true. This is the NW organization, right? God, this world is getting crazier by the minute."
He chattered excitedly.
"Yes, indeed it is getting crazier."
The older officer wanted to ask why the car was bouncing, but seeing the state the Mounted Police was in, he chose to keep quiet.
Seeing a dog driving with a crow beside him, his attention was surely fixed on the dog and the crow, not anything else, so asking would be pointless.
Susan’s sedan pulled up in the yard.
Brian, looking disheveled, opened the rear screen and told Shi San, "Hurry and get some ice from the fridge, Susan’s condition is quite severe today, she urgently needs to cool down..."
He could only help Susan vent her frustrations but couldn’t cool her down.
Shi San nodded dog-like and looked towards Meatball.
Meatball grunted unhappily, flew up to the second floor, then grabbed a huge tub, hurling probably a hundred pounds of crushed ice into a small swimming pool in the yard.
Seeing everything was set,
Brian, holding the flushed, somewhat delirious Susan, dashed into the swimming pool.
Accompanied by the sizzling sound of high heat meeting water, the steaming Susan let out a comfortable sigh.
She looked at Brian holding her, "It was so embarrassing on the road earlier, thankfully the curtain was there to shield us, maybe we should switch to a longer sedan..."
Brian kissed her forehead, "What concerns me now is what you’ll do after I leave in this condition."
Susan dismissed the concern, "I’ll go to the island, there is an icehouse there. Even if you weren’t traveling, I’d probably spend some time there anyway, but I’ll definitely miss you..."
"Then I’ll leave Shi San and Meatball..."
"No, there’s no need, I just need some time to deal with my current negative state."
Brian touched Susan’s face, "You’ll get better, Commander."
A tender night together.
The next day, after Brian dealt with some chores, he boarded the headquarters’ helicopter that had come to fetch him.
This trip was mainly professional and technical in nature, not very dangerous.
Thus, Shi San and Meatball were accompanying him.
Shi San was okay; Meatball had been with Shi San since it was young, and had never seen the outside world - a bit of growth would do it good.
However, their destination wasn’t the suburban NW headquarters base, but a large military ship docked in the bay.
After disembarking from the transport helicopter with a dog and a bird and meeting the greeter, Brian found out that the NW organization had only sent him alone.
Brian felt something was off.
So the NW organization didn’t send any researchers at all?
The greeter was a tall military man.
One could easily tell he was mixed-race, the kind with one black parent, and the rest from a predominantly white circle, with facial features leaning towards caucasian, hardly any black traits except for curly hair and a darker skin tone.
Also, the man was very strong.
From him, Brian could feel the force field of a First Rank life form.
Very full of vitality.
Physically, he was probably among the best in the First Rank life forms.
He looked at Brian’s accompanying dog and bird, somewhat surprised, "Hello, Mr. Brian, I’m Hector, the commander of this ship, are these your pets?"
Brian nodded, "Yes, they are Enhanced animals, with the intelligence of a normal teenager, very well-behaved, with NW certification and legal identities, so no worries."
Hector nodded, "It looks like I need to arrange new accommodations for you. Come, this situation is quite troublesome and urgent. Let’s settle your pets first, then head to the meeting room to discuss."
Brian stopped him, "Just me alone?"
Hector gestured around, "Look, it’s empty, very silent, in fact, the entire ship’s military personnel have been evacuated. Currently, there are only some logistics personnel and a pile of corpses on board. California has only sent you here, and as for the reasons, you’ll find out when you get there."
After saying this, he wasted no more words and led the way.
On the surface, Brian was also a First Rank life form, and his status was more or less equal to Hector’s.
After settling Shi San and Meatball, instructing them not to run around,
Brian followed Hector into a small room.
On their way there, according to his perception, it was indeed as Hector had stated; life on the ship was scarce, adding up to probably less than thirty people, and most of them were in the logistics area, just ordinary people.
However, Brian did not sense any danger signal on the ship.
This made him even more curious about the mission.
What happened in the deep sea?